NAME

test - check file types and compare values

SYNOPSIS

testEXPRESSIONtest[EXPRESSION ]
[ ]
[OPTION

DESCRIPTION

Exit with the status determined by EXPRESSION.
--help display this help and exit
--version
output version information and exit
An omitted EXPRESSION defaults to false. Otherwise, EXPRESSION is true
or false and sets exit status. It is one of:
( EXPRESSION )
EXPRESSION is true
! EXPRESSION
EXPRESSION is false
EXPRESSION1 -a EXPRESSION2
both EXPRESSION1 and EXPRESSION2 are true
EXPRESSION1 -o EXPRESSION2
either EXPRESSION1 or EXPRESSION2 is true
-n STRING
the length of STRING is nonzero
STRING equivalent to -n STRING
-z STRING
the length of STRING is zero
STRING1 = STRING2
the strings are equal
STRING1 != STRING2
the strings are not equal
INTEGER1 -eq INTEGER2
INTEGER1 is equal to INTEGER2
INTEGER1 -ge INTEGER2
INTEGER1 is greater than or equal to INTEGER2
INTEGER1 -gt INTEGER2
INTEGER1 is greater than INTEGER2
INTEGER1 -le INTEGER2
INTEGER1 is less than or equal to INTEGER2
INTEGER1 -lt INTEGER2
INTEGER1 is less than INTEGER2
INTEGER1 -ne INTEGER2
INTEGER1 is not equal to INTEGER2
FILE1 -ef FILE2
FILE1 and FILE2 have the same device and inode numbers
FILE1 -nt FILE2
FILE1 is newer (modification date) than FILE2
FILE1 -ot FILE2
FILE1 is older than FILE2
-b FILE
FILE exists and is block special
-c FILE
FILE exists and is character special
-d FILE
FILE exists and is a directory
-e FILE
FILE exists
-f FILE
FILE exists and is a regular file
-g FILE
FILE exists and is set-group-ID
-G FILE
FILE exists and is owned by the effective group ID
-h FILE
FILE exists and is a symbolic link (same as -L)
-k FILE
FILE exists and has its sticky bit set
-L FILE
FILE exists and is a symbolic link (same as -h)
-O FILE
FILE exists and is owned by the effective user ID
-p FILE
FILE exists and is a named pipe
-r FILE
FILE exists and read permission is granted
-s FILE
FILE exists and has a size greater than zero
-S FILE
FILE exists and is a socket
-t FD file descriptor FD is opened on a terminal
-u FILE
FILE exists and its set-user-ID bit is set
-w FILE
FILE exists and write permission is granted
-x FILE
FILE exists and execute (or search) permission is granted
Except for -h and -L, all FILE-related tests dereference symbolic
links. Beware that parentheses need to be escaped (e.g., by
backslashes) for shells. INTEGER may also be -l STRING, which
evaluates to the length of STRING.
NOTE: [ honors the --help and --version options, but test does not.
test treats each of those as it treats any other nonempty STRING.
NOTE: your shell may have its own version of test and/or [, which
usually supersedes the version described here. Please refer to your
shell’s documentation for details about the options it supports.

SEEALSO

The full documentation for test is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If
the info and test programs are properly installed at your site, the
command
infocoreutils'testinvocation'
should give you access to the complete manual.